Domino
by Procrastination Fairy
Summary: When Bloom refuses to come to Alfea with Stella, they both brush it off and assume nothing bad will come of it. Now the Trix have taken over a few hundred planets, including Earth and Magix, only a few people are still known to be alive, and no one has any idea where they got the Dragon Flame. Rewrite of season 1.
1. Chapter 1

**As a child, I loved the Winx Club. However, one thing that always bothered me was that Bloom left her parents so readily. At that point in time, she didn't even know they weren't her real parents. My family has always found that as the one flaw in the series.**

**This is a completely rewritten version of the series.**

**I prefer the Rai English version, so for those of you who only know what goes on in the 4Kids dub, I will list the differences that I am aware of so you don't get confused. If you have seen the Rai English variation, feel free to correct me on any of these in your review and I will do my best to fix it.**

**Sparks is Domino.**

**The Dragon Fire is the Dragon Flame.**

**Musa is not a princess. (However, I have heard people argue about this one.)**

**The planet names can be fairly different, so I suggest you look this up for yourself.**

**If you have reached this point, I'm very pleased you've bothered to read this extremely long author's note and I hope you enjoy this story so it wasn't a complete waste of time.**

"I don't see why we had to come to _here_. Surely there's a planet that the Trix took over that's in better shape," a spiky-haired teenager muttered to his friends.

The only boy with glasses in the group pushed his eyewear up his nose and replied, "Actually, this is the only planet besides Magix that the Trix have attacked. Isn't that strange?"

"We don't have time for that now, Timmy," a blond spoke up suddenly. "Brandon, go check that tree. Something could be up there. Timmy, scan and see if there's anything around here. And Riven… stop complaining. I'm going to see if there's anything down that hole. Meet back here in five minutes."

All four finished and found the spot Sky had pointed out quickly.

"Still nothing."

They continued on into the forest. Then a bush rustled. They turned.

"Something's there," Riven whispered.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Episode 1<strong>_

_**The Fairy Girl**_

* * *

><p>"Eek!"<p>

The three girls turned to their blonde friend. The dark-haired girl sighed.

"What is it this time, Stella?" the girl, named Musa, asked.

Stella lowered her arms lamely and mustered out, "There… there was a bug."

Her friends rolled their eyes and kept walking. There were few trees in this area of the town they landed in, but the sky had been darkened enough that it was difficult to see.

Examined closely, you could tell the quartet had been wearing the same clothes for a fairly long amount of time. Stella's way-too-big white sweatshirt that had been tossed on to keep the piece of clothing under it from ripping now revealed her bikini-like green top and a rip at her orange skirts size threatened to let it completely fall apart. Musa's one strap had ripped and been tied back to hold together while one leg of her jeans was considerably shorter. The violet-haired girl's clothes were in better shape, but holes were starting to tear all over. One sleeve had been ripped off the brunette's bright green shirt and her favorite pink skirt had unfortunately been replaced by a pair of black shorts after finally proving themselves ready to turn into pieces. All of the girls' had abandoned their shoes somewhere along the way, mud sticking to their feet much to the dismay of the testy blonde.

"Flora, can you check and see if the plants have seen anyone alive?"

The brunette nodded and let magic seep out of her fingers, into the ground. The plants leaned away sharply but eased forward as she consoled them.

Flora frowned and gave her friends an apologetic glance. "They don't trust me with information like that. But they will show us where we can get edible substances? …Tecna, they say those are poison."

The girl dropped the red berries in her hand and brushed herself off. "Well… I suppose that could be considered useful information. Let's go then."

They walked for two minutes before Stella screamed again.

"I'm… I'm going to transform and fly," she stuttered as Flora gently moved the spider away from.

Musa rolled her eyes. "I think that'd be better for everyone."

Stella huffed, but continued with her transformation. The orange clad fairy floated up.

Flora looked around. "I'm starting to get worried. We haven't seen anyone else from Alfea, Red Fountain, _or_ Cloud Tower… Do you think something's happened to them?"

"I don't know," Tecna replied eventually.

* * *

><p>The headmistress of Alfea walked around an apartment building, trying the every door to see if they were unlocked. Miss Griffin, who was following, blasted them open, making it a moot point.<p>

"Oh, there's no one here," Ms. Faragonda despaired as she reached the final room. "This is horrible. If this planet with no magic is completely destroyed, imagine what will happen to Magix when they finish!"

"Calm down. Something will turn up," the headmaster of Red Fountain consoled her.

Miss Griffin groaned. "I doubt it."

Ms. Faragonda leaned against the wall and sunk to the floor, which truly showed the severity of the situation as the wise fairy found such a thing very unbecoming of a lady. "The only thing I can't understand is how the Trix _got_ the Dragon Flame in the first place. It's supposed to be protected by Domino's princess. Daphne should be protecting it with the rest of the nymphs! And we still can't find any of the students…"

"They'll find us eventually," Saladin reasoned. "You put the protection field up, so it's not possible for them to leave. Calm down, Faragonda, it will work out. Let's just stay in one of these rooms for the night and surely things will be better in the morning."

Despite both of the women's disagreements, nothing was voiced as they were all too exhausted to argue. Taking care of schools and fighting witches with the most powerful source of magic was not something that mixed well for someone of their age. They opened a random door and took the apartment as their own… just for tonight.

* * *

><p>The fairies continued to walk for a long time before their feet tired and the rest transformed so they could fly.<p>

"My wings hurt," Stella complained for the nth time.

Flora's composure had been lost on this journey and she snapped, "We know, Stella. Ours do too."

Stella looked slightly offended. "No need to be so snappy."

The four floated into a clearing and collapsed onto the ground. They heaved breaths out, trying to catch theirs, and rolled on the ground. None of them could hold their transformations any longer and faded back into their original forms. The sun began to set, lulling them to sleep. Stella rolled over onto a piece of newspaper. She pulled it out from under her.

"'The Gardenia Times'…" She looked at her friends, and then her brown eyes clicked with recognition. "Guys, I've been here before! And I know a good place to hide. Plus it's not too far from here…"

* * *

><p>A sword cut the branches of the bush off and tossed them to the ground, revealing a young girl with a long stick pointed at them. (It would do her no good, however, as she was paralyzed in fear.)<p>

At first glance, the boys considered her to be a couple years younger, but despite her stature, it was clear she was around their age. Her long red hair was matted with who-knows-what by now, pulled into a ponytail for just this reason, and her slightly overgrown bangs almost covered her wide blue eyes. Whatever clothes she was wearing were no longer recognizable due to the amount of muck all over them, although it could be assumed she did this herself by the way they blended in with the ground. Her tennis shoes were worn down from constant running. After all this and the scratches marring her face, Sky noted that the redhead was fairly pretty.

"Who are you?" Riven demanded. She obviously wanted to say the same thing, but she shut her mouth.

Brandon pulled the redhead to her feet. "We should try to find the teachers and see if they can help us now. Okay, miss, we're going to take you with us because from what it looks like around here, you'd be safer."

She nodded her consent and began to follow quietly.

"None of the aircrafts will respond to the controls and I can't find anything electrical for miles," Timmy reported carefully, glancing at the girl to see if she responded. When she did not, he continued, "I think we're a little too far away from civilization. Let's head back where we came and see if anyone's taken refuge there.

"Have you heard from anyone, Timmy?" Sky asked. Timmy shook his head.

"No. Nothing from the teachers, and I can't see any of the witches' or the fairies' magic."

The redhead perked up. "Um… Did you just say fairies?"

The boys turned.

"Oh, look, she can speak," Riven replied sarcastically.

The girl looked down. "But… that's what you said, right?"

"Yes," Sky answered her carefully. "Why are you so interested in that?"

She blinked. "Well, fairies, um, aren't supposed to be real, so I was just wondering…"

"What about witches?" Brandon asked.

"We have enough of those," the girl muttered in such a way that made it known to everyone that she did not mean the kind of witch they were talking about.

Sky looked at the girl and decided an interrogation was in order. "What's your name?"

"Bloom," she answered quietly. He nodded.

"I'm Sky, and this is Brandon, Riven, and Timmy."

Bloom raised her head. "It's nice to meet you."

"Anyway," Sky continued, "how did this happen? Where were you when it started? Do you know at all what's going on here? Where are we?"

Bloom calmly ran all the questions through her head and said, "I don't know. Do you know what's going on? Where is everybody anyway, and who are you? Where did you?"

"What gives you the right to question us?" Riven asked. Bloom was already making him wary.

"Perhaps the fact that _I'm_ the one from this planet—and don't try to say you're not. Fairies don't live here." The teenager's tone was incredibly sure of herself for someone who was not supposed to know about any of this. She waited for one of her companions to answer and tightened the hair band that was slipping out.

Brandon looked at her questioningly. "What makes you say that?"

"But it's true, isn't it?"

He merely scowled at the girl who surely knew more than she was leading on.

* * *

><p>"Ms. Faragonda!" Flora exclaimed, rushing forward to the older woman. "We've been looking everywhere—well, for anybody really."<p>

"I'm happy to see you girls too. We haven't heard from anyone else. Professor Saladin believes this city's electric system can't support the gadgets his boys are carrying around. Tomorrow, perhaps you girls can fly around and see if you can see anyone else from that distance."

Musa frowned. "Really? No one? Do you think anyone could've gotten captured?"

Their principal nodded sadly. "We can't even see any magic. I hope the Trix haven't come back."

"Flora, maybe you should ask the plants again. They might help," Tecna suggested. Her friend nodded and cast the small spell.

The women crowded around her carefully. Color drained from her tanned face as she spilled most of her energy into the final charm for today. When a magic stopped flowing from her fingers, she stumbled back in a daze while Musa and Tecna caught her so she didn't collapse onto the ground. "Th— …They said they'd ask the others, but it might take a while for anyone information to come back here. We'll just have to listen."

The principal then paused. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled. Rain began to pour, sticking hair to faces (also turning Stella's to a mossy brown) and streaking across cheeks like tears. The girls squeaked as the storm seemed to get louder. "Let's get you inside. No one should be out in a storm like this. I just hope everyone else can find shelter."

* * *

><p>Bloom looked around carefully at her hometown. Quite a few of the buildings had fallen down, and the ones that were standing up were decorated with body sacs and other goop. Only a few weeks ago, Bloom had rode through her on her bicycle. She didn't know why that thought was making her sick now.<p>

Her companions she was still a bit leery to trust were sleeping underneath a tree to hide from the rain. Bloom was actually slightly happy for the rain. Her hair was looking a little bit cleaner—almost enough to be called presentable. Then she looked around and sighed.

"I hope… something good happens."

**Well, I hope this chapter turned out well.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I've done my best to incorporate what happened in the first season, but you have to admit, a lot of it wouldn't have happened if Bloom hadn't gone to Alfea. For instance, the Trix would have had no interest in the Winx (other than for Stella's ring), and Darcy would've never met Riven. Nobody would've found out about the name switch, either. I did notice that the people at Red Fountain seemed to know their real names though, so that's why Sky introduced himself that way to Bloom.**

**Therefore, Sky will be referred to, as of this chapter, as Sky/Brandon, and Brandon will be called Brandon/Sky.**

_Flora_.

She could hear the plants calling her, but—at this point in her thoughts, Flora yawned and turned over in her makeshift bed—she was much too tired to answer. They could wait a little bit, couldn't they?

_Flora. We have the information you asked for. Flora, wake up! Hurry! If you don't, they'll leave and be too far away!_

The brunette finally sat up and mumbled to the window, "Who?"

_The people! There's a group a couple blocks from here. Four boys and a girl. Hurry! They may leave soon!_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Episode 2<strong>_

_**The Story of a Flower**_

* * *

><p>Bloom didn't mean to stumble away from her companions. Really, she hadn't. She'd just seen a store she used to go to when she'd stay at her mom's shop. And that meant her mom's shop was nearby. If Bloom found her mom's shop, then she could find her house, and… Bloom smiled. She could change into some different clothes, maybe even take a shower.<p>

But when she opened the door, she'd almost been expecting her mother to pop out and greet her. Bloom sighed and straightened a couple pots. Maybe if her mother did find her way back, she'd know Bloom was okay because the pots would be neater. The redhead looked around, shaking her head. She'd never be able to fix it all right now. She reached down and picked up a flower that had been knocked from its plant. Bloom decided to keep it with herself. With all the time her mother put into this shop, Bloom would feel like she was there, helping her.

"Bloom!"

She whipped around at the sound of her name. Then she blushed, realizing that she must have been gone long enough for her companions to wake and search for her. "Oh, um… Hi, I guess."

Sky shook his head in annoyance. "You shouldn't wander off. We thought maybe there were more of those… things around here. We can't afford to have someone who might have information gone. Besides, you obviously know the terrain the best. That's something we need right now."

Bloom bit her lip. "I… Sorry… I…"

Sky waved her off. "It doesn't matter right now. Come on, we—"

Bloom hesitated, slowly moving behind the counter.

"Fine, just stay here for now. I'll be back with everyone else, and then we're leaving, no matter what."

His implications were clear. Bloom would help them whether she liked it or not. In truth, Bloom really wouldn't mind, but she wasn't exactly ready to be tossed back into magical stuff. Maybe if they'd come a week later… Bloom smiled sadly. That wouldn't work. She'd already been hiding out for about three weeks now, and there was no telling when she would've ended it herself. Besides, they couldn't exactly control when something bad happened to them. Nobody could. Bloom reached under the counter to pull a book she'd been secretly reading during her shift out when the chime of the door alerted her. They couldn't be back already, could they? Or were there more people on Earth now? The sound of panting greeted her, but the squeaks that accompanied it were distinctly feminine. Bloom looked at the entrance.

"Er… Hi…" the girl said. "I'm sorry… I just ran… so I didn't miss… Is anyone else here?"

Bloom shook her head, not quite sure exactly what she said. Then the girl looked around at the plants.

"What happened to this place? Did those witches destroy all these defenseless creatures?" There was no hiding the pain in her voice. Bloom shrugged. The girl leaned down to her with a smile and said, "My name's Flora. I'm a nature fairy. Would you like me to fix them?"

"You can do that?" asked Bloom incredulously. Flora nodded as the foliage regained its chlorophyll color and the shop seemed more lifelike. "Thank you!" Bloom cried. "This is my mother's shop, and she always took such great care… I was so sad to see it all go to waste. Oh, by the way, I'm Bloom."

"You're from here then?" Flora asked. "Oops, sorry. That probably sounded strange. I'm actually from Linphea. It's a planet pretty far away from here, and I attend Alfea. It's—"

"A school for fairies," Bloom finished.

"You know that?"

Bloom shrugged. "Well, it's actually a long story…"

Flora's face lit up. "Tell me. I'd like to know."

"Well," Bloom began awkwardly, "I was sixteen when I went for a walk in the park. My rabbit, Kiko, ran off, so I went to chase him, and I saw this girl—"

"Stella," Flora injected. "I should've known. She said she'd been here before…"

"You know Stella?" Bloom asked.

"Yeah. She's one of my roommates. She's gets into trouble all the time. She told you all about Alfea?"

Bloom nodded. "She even invited me to come with her. She thought that I was magical or something. I think I just showed up at the right time to hit the ogre with a stick."

Flora laughed. "Mind explaining how that happened?"

"We couldn't get her to explain anything. Nice to see you, Flora. Are your friends around here?"

"Oh, hi, Brandon. No, the plant life here just told me that there were others near. Ms. Faragonda told me to bring anyone I found back," Flora said. Bloom was hardly listening. Because this boy, the one she called Sky, obviously told either Flora or Bloom a lie. And Bloom wasn't quite sure whom.

That's when Sky/Brandon seemed to notice his mistake. He glanced pleadingly at Bloom through blue eyes. Bloom decided to play along. This favor might get her something in the long run.

"Well," Sky/Brandon said, "everybody else is just outside. Flora, mind showing us the way?"

"Gladly."

Bloom walked a little slower than Flora, just enough that she could brush past Sky/Brandon and whisper, "Which one's your real name?"

Bloom was pretty sure she had the upper hand after that.

* * *

><p>Stella was a late sleeper. Musa was sure of that. That's why she was a little confused when she got up at about 8:30 and Stella was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee.<p>

"What are you up so early for?" she asked.

Stella looked back at her rather exhaustedly. "Flora got up at about 5:40 and ran out saying that the plants told her someone was close to us. I wish she would've just told the plants to wait. Her rush made me get up. Ugh, I'm so tired. Earth coffee can hardly keep me conscious. It's got to be diluted by about… 3 times! Why can't I have my nice normal Magix coffee?"

"Actually," Tecna said as she entered the room, "this coffee is normal. Coffee in Magix is made stronger using fairy dust."

Musa laughed. "That certainly doesn't help your caffeine addiction, does it?"

Stella tossed her now empty and fortunately plastic cup at Musa's head.

"Hey, wait a minute, where did you two get new clothes?"

Stella and Tecna glanced down at what they were wearing.

"One of the apartments must've been the home of a girl about our age. We just borrowed some," Tecna explained.

Stella broke out into a smile. "Come, Musa, and I will pick out a wonderful outfit for you? What do you think? Skirt? Dress? Pumps?"

"I'm thinking something we can run away in," Musa said. Tecna laughed.

"Good morning, ladies," Ms. Griffin greeted. They immediately settled down.

"Good morning."

"So, Flora left almost three hours ago and she's still not back?" inquired Tecna.

Stella nodded. "Yeah. I'm kind of worried. I hope she gets back soon."

They all glanced at the door as if she'd suddenly appear. She didn't, in fact, for another half hour, at which point, no one was in that particular room.

* * *

><p>"Everyone has been staying here," Flora notified.<p>

Bloom smiled. "This is where I live… deh. Lived."

"Oh, really?" Flora faltered. "Er, Ms. Faragonda broke all the locks. And I think Stella may have raided your closet. She looked through every article of clothing in the building until she could find something suitable to sleep in, and she probably did the same thing this morning."

Bloom shrugged. "It's okay. I have a lot of things I don't wear anyway."

Riven glanced at Sky/Brandon. "She's talked more to Flora than she has the entire time we were hiding."

Sky/Brandon shrugged. "It must be a girl thing. They probably have a code that lets them communicate secretly."

Bloom seemed to hear that and giggled. Then she grinned at Flora and said, "Hey, Flora, do you see that _window_ over there? It's the best _place_ to grow flowers. Just _in_ case you wanted to."

Flora seemed confused at the random emphasis, but played along. "Oh, _maybe_ I will. Is there a spot Musa—she's a music fairy—could _blare_ her music? She likes to play it loud."

"Of course!" Bloom leaned over to whisper in her ear. Flora smiled and pushed open the door.

"Hey… No one's here."

Bloom glanced around before walking back to the door. "I'm going to go to my room. See you later, Flora!" She walked outside to the door of her apartment. The lock was broken, she noted sourly, but then again, Flora had warned her of that. She opened the door.

Three girls were standing in her room. Bloom blinked. The blonde smiled and ran over to her.

"Bloom! It's been so long! Sorry, I took your clothes, but the ones I was wearing earlier were _horrible_! Oh, Musa, Tecna, sorry! This is Bloom! I met her in a, well… an accident here on Earth. Bloom, these are my roommates, Musa and Tecna. Flora isn't here, though."

"Actually, she is. She's in another apartment a couple doors over," Bloom announced. She looked at Musa and Tecna. "I'll explain more about Stella's 'accident' later."

Stella's friends smiled and shot her an "okay!" look.

"I never thought I'd be back on Earth again, but what better guide than an Earth girl who's willing to accept fairies and other stuff?" proclaimed Stella.

Bloom nodded. "Is Stella always this…"

"Obnoxious, energetic, talkative? No matter what you say, I'm sure the answer's yes!" Musa replied cheerfully.

**I'm sorry it took me so long to update. It took me a while to figure out exactly what should happen. I hope this lived (live… deh. Sorry, about that part, but I have to include how Bloom is trying to adjust to the weird changes in her world and that's the best I could do) up to your expectations because I worked pretty hard on it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**It's been a while, so I've decided to give you an extra long chapter . . . Well, not really. I'm hoping all of my chapters will be at least 3,000 words now and I want the scenes to last longer and be more descriptive too. But it still works to your advantage, right?**

"Why isn't it working?" the ice-haired witch cried. She was seething, and someone would pay. "Darcy! Stormy!"

The other girls turned uninterestedly.

"Chill, Icy," said Stormy, knowing the choice of words would set her off even more. "So, what's not working?"

"The spells, you little . . ." Icy huffed and turned away. "The Dragon Flame hasn't been working as well. I think the power has stopped working."

Darcy was perplexed. "Why?"

"I think . . . it has something to do with that girl. Maybe we didn't take enough in the first place. After all," Icy pointed out, "the Dragon Flame is incredibly powerful. It'd be no surprise if there was more of it. All we have to do is take it from that oblivious child and the army will obey us all the more."

"Sounds easy enough," Stormy agreed.

"Of course," Darcy said.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Episode 3<strong>_

_**The Witches Appear**_

* * *

><p>"Scissors, scissors, scissors, scissors," muttered Bloom as she rifled through the drawer. It was a little hard to see at the angle she was looking from, especially with her bangs falling on top of her eyelashes. But, she noted happily, that would all be fixed as soon as she could manage to find those scissors.<p>

The door slammed open. "Hello!"

Musa, she detected. Bloom sighed. As long as she could get this finished before Stella returned. She did not need a salon trip; she needed a trim. And not a salon trim either. She huffed and gave up on that drawer too. In fact, Bloom gave up on finding the scissors. She might as well ask one of the fairies to use magic to fix her hair. That would work just as well, wouldn't it?

She moved on with her to do list. Laundry—something that piled up when you had five girls living off of one girl's wardrobe, especially if one of the girls was named Stella. Musa, Tecna, and Flora had no problem sleeping in day clothes or wearing pajamas all day, but Stella threw a fit if she couldn't change for lunch. Then, Bloom tightened her lips into an irritated grimace, there was the problem that two of the girls were too tall, one too short, and one who just didn't fit the clothes all that well. Sure, there were those jeans that were a little too big for Bloom or an old pair of sweatpants that she had outgrown and not bothered to get rid of, but most of her clothes fit her perfectly and that turned out to be a problem. That amused her slightly.

She separated the whites and colors, taking liberties with pale blues and an faded tie-dye t-shirt that really only looked like a pale stain in the first place, and measured out the detergent. It was no wonder she got stuck with this chore. The boys (and Stella, for completely different reasons along the lines of "I'm a princess, so I don't have to work") had outright refused to take charge of this. Flora had tried, but she did not work well with technology and no one really wanted their clothes washed in a creek. Musa and Tecna could, but Musa tended to be found nowhere when chores were to be done and Tecna was needed for other chores, most involving fixing things everyone else had broken.

"We could," whispered Bloom, "always go shopping." She raised her voice slightly. "Would it be called stealing if we just took it though? It's not like anyone would be there. Besides, this is survival. Would it still be called shopping then? I'd suppose not, but it may be best not to tell Stella that."

"Do all Earth people talk to themselves?" Sky/Brandon asked. Bloom turned and smiled.

"I'm not talking to myself. Instead of having magic, Earthlings can see invisible beings. I was having a conversation with one of _them_."

Sky/Brandon laughed. Even at her most sarcastically annoying state, Bloom was a very witty girl. She turned back to the laundry and set the timer.

"Earthlings? Surely you don't actually call yourselves that," wondered Sky/Brandon. Bloom nodded.

"Shocking, I know. They had so many things to choose from too. Like . . . Terrans. Or Terrians. Maybe we could've called ourselves Gaians. Gaiaceans. Something like that. Ooh, I know! We could've been Gis!" Bloom laughed. "Earth was pronounced 'gi' in Greek. Gosh, that would've been awful. Anyway, you can see Earthlings is the lesser evil. What do they call people from your planet? What planet are you from actually? Stella's from Solaran"—"Solaria"—"Whatever, Flora's from Linphea. How many planets are there? They aren't in our solar system, are they? 'Cause then I'd assume we've been calling them the wrong names.

"Eraklyon," said Sky/Brandon just to make her stop asking questions. "None of those are in this solar system. You're fine."

"Good," Bloom said. He looked around.

"You sure you're okay doing all of these chores?"

"Yeah," shrugged Bloom. "Only fair. I can't help out with all the magic junk or whatever it is you do—I'd fall on my face in five minutes, I'm sure, considering how exhausted you look right now—so I have to help where I can. And if that happens to be household chores, so be it. Besides, I'm not talented at this stuff either, so since no one else can really help, it makes me feel kind of good," she admitted.

She blew her bangs out of her face and nearly had an asthma attack. When she realized what she had been doing she turned around with a red face, but calm dignity as she said, "You wouldn't happen to know where the scissors are, would you?"

The door slammed again. The clicking of heels told Bloom who it was.

"Never mind. Stella would kill me if I used them now." Bloom checked her watch. It was only 9:00. If they walked fast enough, surely they could get home before it was dark. She turned and jumped up the stairs. "Hey, Stella, let's go shopping!"

The blonde froze. "Are you serious? You mean actual shopping, right? Not buying food or anything?"

"Well, I actually don't think we'll _buy_ anything considering there will be no one to sell it, but we will be taking food. Actually, the reason we were going to go was to get clothes. I'm not sure my clothes can cover us all much longer, especially with you all being out in the mud every day," said Bloom.

"Yay! This is the greatest day I've had since we landed on this planet. Flora, Musa, Tecna, we're going shopping!"

She could've been more excited, Bloom thought, but they had no time for that. They needed to get there and back. "Let's go," she said, four girls trailing after her.

* * *

><p>"Okay, what's popular here? Even if I'm wearing clothes no one else in the whole universe knows about, I at least need to wear clothes people from <em>this<em> world would know," Stella demanded.

Bloom looked around. "Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, American Eagle, but"—she stopped herself from saying they were too expensive—"it isn't very durable. I'd try JC Penney's or Macy's."

Any other girl, including the other three who had walked away once they had heard the names of stores that sold clothes that might actually be of use, would've been fine. Stella, however, was indignant and she immediately searched for the nearest store Bloom had originally named off. Bloom brushed it off and looked for things she might like herself.

Stella, on the other hand, now inside Hollister, was examining the clothes on the shelves. Bloom was right; this shirt was probably too thin to last more than a couple months, but she wasn't about to admit it.

The store itself wasn't all that satisfying either. Body sacs where strewn nearly everywhere she walked. The speakers were cracking from their constant use. The store smelt faintly of perfume. Bloom said she'd been here a couple weeks, so if Stella could still smell it, she could only imagine how strong it must have been before.

"You really want to look here?" Sky asked.

"No," Stella sighed. The boys had decided to tag along in hopes to find clothing for themselves too.

He nodded. He'd never been one to use many words. Stella was okay with that most of the time. She talked a lot, so she could fill in. Except when it came to feelings. He had yet to tell her he even liked her, and they had been dating (loose version—she was _not_ his girlfriend, she admitted) for the whole year. She considered staying put just so she could get him to speak more—"Stella, I love you and all, but I do not want spend another minute here."—but to tell the truth, she couldn't find much she liked. She grabbed a shirt anyway. She had to spite Bloom somehow.

* * *

><p>"You like this?" asked Musa, holding a shirt for Flora to see.<p>

"Oh, look, fairies! Wonder what they're doing here," laughed Stormy.

Darcy flashed a smile at the startled girls and the specialist who now remembered to draw his sword. "Too bad we'll have to destroy. You're interfering with the signal."

"Um . . . Transform!" Flora yelled back to Musa.

"Not really a response to my question, but I think we'll make due for now," she replied. She then shot a harsh sound wave toward the witches. "I hope somebody feels the magic pulse. We could _really_ use some back up right about now."

* * *

><p>Bloom felt her blood run cold. Funny, she thought. She could've sworn it usually ran hot, considering the fact that her average temperature was 99.4 degrees.<p>

"Hello."

It was one of those weird girls, Bloom decided. The ice one. She could tell because the temperature had suddenly dropped.

"It seems we didn't take everything we needed last time. Just hold still and it'll be quick."

Bloom didn't know exactly what they had taken from her last time or why they wanted to take it again. She did know that last time she had felt horrible for nearly a week and by then, Gardenia was a wreck. Over all, she didn't think it was a wise choice to stay here too much longer.

She took off running out of the store. She wished the juniors' section was in the front. It would take her forever to get out.

"Bloom, where are you going?" Sky/Brandon asked.

She groaned. She had forgotten about him. "R-run!" she panted, not being much of a runner herself. She thought that maybe she should look into that.

"What? Icy!"

Bloom kept running. She knew she couldn't stay close. She just hoped that whatever Sky/Brandon was doing back there didn't involve talking. Explaining would be difficult since she was very confused. She took a look around the mall. Stella and Brandon/Sky had just exited a store. Perfect.

"Help!" yelled Bloom, her voice rather raspy from the abrupt cardiovascular exercise. "There's . . . there's a witch . . . back in there."

"And you left Brandon?" the boy exclaimed.

Her reply, a straggled "no", sounded like a question to her own ears, so she relented from adding a remark.

"You stay here with Bloom," he ordered.

Stella blinked. "Excuse me? It's magic. Let the fairy go."

"No time. Both of you go. I'll keep running," said Bloom and she moved on the next place she could hide in as quickly as she could. The pair took off in the opposite direction.

* * *

><p>Tecna paused, her hand inches away from the jacket. "Do you feel that?" She could've slapped herself. Timmy didn't have magic. Of course he couldn't. With her technology powers, she could barely feel it herself.<p>

"What's wrong?" he asked. She liked that about him. He automatically knew it was magic and just asked her.

"Someone transformed—no two people did. There's something here!" she exclaimed.

Timmy took out his portable computer. "Riven's sword is out. It's tracking it to the north. I'd assume it's probably Musa and Flora then."

"It doesn't matter because whoever didn't is in fairy form now too! We have to find them!" said Tecna.

"Sky and Brandon just went online too. Let's split up and look."

"Yes," she nodded.

* * *

><p>"Fancy meeting you here," SkyBrandon said as he ran into Stella and Brandon/Sky.

"Bloom said that there was a witch—oh, Icy. That's lovely."

"Bloom, huh?" Icy noted. "No matter. I don't have time to waste talking to any of you. I suppose I'll join my sisters. Best things come in threes, right?" She laughed and teleported away. Stella, Sky/Brandon, and Brandon/Sky all looked at each other. Stella fluttered her wings and soared toward the exit.

"Might as well try to find them, right?"

They moved down the hall toward the sound of a battle. All three witches stood facing the other members of their group.

"This is useless. Let's call up some monsters to take care of them," complained Stormy.

"No! We have to save what we have left of the Dragon Flame!" Icy warned.

Tecna flew back. "You're running out of the Dragon Flame?"

"We won't be soon," said Darcy as she split herself, one copy running out of the store.

In the back, hiding under the check-out counter, Bloom tried to catch her breath. "I could see if I could get out of here before they noticed. That wouldn't do much good. They're looking for me; they'd notice and leave." She really wished she had a bottle of water. "Okay, but maybe I could get Ms. Faragonda and Ms. Griffin! Yes, that would work. I bet they could beat those witches."

Bloom rose ever so slightly and shuffled to the end of the counter. She peeked at the battle, and after deciding there could be no better time, she took off to the entrance in the most discreet way she could at this state—legs wobbling, feet hammering against the floor.

"Oh, look!" Darcy said patronizingly. All three turned their concentration to the redhead and pulled as much power as they could. Sky/Brandon thrust his sword on Icy's back. Red started to stain her suit.

"It doesn't matter, 'hero'. We can always come back another time." The Trix then vanished from the store.

"Is Bloom okay?" asked Flora. All eyes turned to the girl collapsed on the floor. Beads of sweat rolled down her face. Musa reached out and felt her forehead.

"She's burning up! What did they do to her?"

"I'd like to know why. They don't know that we're friends with her. I doubt they'd have much interest in a regular Earth girl," suggested Tecna. Flora glanced at her blonde friend.

"Stella . . . maybe you should tell everyone how you met Bloom."

She stiffened. "Oh, well, it's a funny story, really."

"Yeah, it must be really funny considering how long you've put this off," Musa said.

Stella laughed weakly.

**The more I write this, the more ideas I have. I'm really excited to write the next chapter, so let me know what you guys think. I'm hoping to post sometime next week, but it could take two depending on when I start writing. With any luck, you'll be hearing from me soon.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I hate to actually put this online. It's incredibly short and mainly a filler, but I need a filler chapter and I can't write much more. I tried this whole time between now and my last update, but this is all you will receive for the time being. Sorry!**

There were blurry faces above her and distant voices. Bloom determined that she had to be waking up after fainting, as most movies with fainting have shown. She tried to make her eyes focus, but the ache building deep inside her head, tugging at all of her nerves made it nearly impossible. She tried to pick out the voices.

* * *

><p><strong>Episode 4<strong>

**Ms. Faragonda**

* * *

><p>Bloom heaved another breath. She could've sworn it hadn't been this hot when they'd left. She closed her eyes. She knew the streets well enough that she didn't <em>have<em> to watch where she was going. Without the light burning into her eyes, Bloom felt infinitely cooler, but the darkness also made her rather dizzy. She felt a hand on her arm steadying her, then looping under to hold her up.

"Are you _sure_ you're okay?" Sky/Brandon asked. At least, that was the name(s) she connected to the voice. She wasn't sure she could quite trust her mind yet.

"Yes," she snapped automatically. She didn't want to think about this right now. She felt her body lurch forward. Why weren't her feet obeying her? Or was it her legs? She could hardly tell with a migraine like this. "I . . . just want to go home."

"I'll take over your chores for you," offered Musa. A few others mocked her by asking if she'd do them like she did her own. Bloom wanted to laugh, but she just felt so tired. At least she was awake this time.

Flora rushed over and took Bloom from Sky/Brandon. She said, "Sweetie, we know you want to go lie down, but first, you have to tell us why the Trix attacked you. It's important. This could help us go home—and fix Earth, of course. Now, speak as slowly as you need to. We can wait. Don't exert yourself."

Bloom tried to look at her, but the light was just too bright and she didn't think she had the energy to turn her head. "I don't know. Maybe . . . Maybe because they knew you couldn't let a bystander get hurt. Or . . . they couldn't leave a survivor. Please, don't make me speak anymore."

No one did, but Bloom knew—not an intuitive knew, but just a complete, overwhelming feeling. She didn't like the feeling. It was familiar, and _not_ earthly—that they wanted to ask more. She couldn't tell how many people switched around helping her, but she knew it had to be quite a few. After one left and another replaced them, she laid her head down on their shoulder and tried to block out the noise. Then she was switched again, and this person was taller, so she settled leaning against their arm. The more she walked, the dizzier she felt. Her stomach churned and she felt flushed, sweaty, then chilled with goose bumps spread across her legs. Bloom hoped she could get back to the apartments before she collapsed.

The next thing she recognized was the feeling of the leather couch. At first it felt good, cooling her fevered skin, but then she felt like she was freezing to death. It brought back memories of that day, and she couldn't get warm. She started to struggle around. She had to get warmer. She couldn't freeze. She couldn't make her parents watch her die. She had to do this.

"Mom . . . ," Bloom muttered, "Dad, go! . . . can make it. . . .'ill be fine. Don't worry."

Flora placed another washcloth on the redhead's forehead. She looked to see if anyone else was in the room. No one was, but she figured someone could hear her. "Who went to get Ms. Faragonda?"

"Stella," Tecna answered. "And for the record, she was not my choice." The voice grew nearer until it was right behind her. "How is she?"

"She's calling for her parents. Telling them to run. Something about this must remind her of Earth's apocalypse. Poor thing," the flower fairy said sympathetically.

"Kiko! Please, leave Kiko alone! Please, I'll do anything!" yelled Bloom suddenly. She sobbed, "Please, please. Don't make me be alone. _Please_."

Tecna reached over and kept Bloom still. "Who's Kiko?"

"Her boyfriend, maybe?" Flora replied. "I haven't heard her say anything about him before though. I hope Ms. Faragonda gets here soon. I hate seeing Bloom so defenseless. It's really strange, especially since she has no magic, but she always seems really powerful, you know?"

Tecna stared. She wasn't a particularly powerful fairy by any means—at least, not where most fairies thought was powerful. In her own powers, Tecna thought she was pretty skilled—but she could sense there was something strange about Bloom. "Yes," she replied. "I believe I do know what you mean."

* * *

><p>The next time Bloom woke up, there was an elderly lady leaning over her. Bloom instantly thought her to be kind and sweet, but firm. She seemed nice. While Bloom wondered if it would be detrimental to use her voice yet, she knew she needed to ask what had happened, so she did.<p>

"I healed you," the lady replied. "You don't seem to remember much though. This could be from past trauma, but your brain seems used to flushing out bad memories. In any case, I'm Ms. Faragonda. Now, tell me, Bloom, what is the last thing you remember? Tell me everything, _in detail_," the professor ordered. Bloom didn't disobey her.

"I was on my way home after school," whispered the redhead, "and all of a sudden, I saw Kiko—he's my pet rabbit—come running toward me, which is really weird, because my parents never let him out of the house unless I'm right there with him. Anyway, I picked him and walked inside the apartment to ask what was going on, and I saw these three girls.

"My parents looked scared, so I almost started to run away," Bloom licked her lips, trying to decide how to continue, "and, um, I don't remember much after that, but then I was in the trees and I just decided to learn to live by myself."

"I see," answered Ms. Faragonda. "I'm afraid you've been exposed to quite a lot from our world—too much, in fact. Perhaps, when those witches have been defeated, it would be in everyone's best interest that you come live at Alfea."

"What?" Bloom exclaimed. "I live on Earth! My family's here, and—and my friends! I can't leave!"

"You will make new friends at Alfea, and you can work in the library. Yes, that is a good idea. Having someone their age to help them study might work better because you could relate. We'll talk about this more later, Miss Bloom," decided Ms. Faragonda. "As for now, I am wondering why you had no visible wounds. The Trix use the Dragon Flame, so you should have been burnt at least mildly in many places after they attacked you. Yet, all I could find was this." Ms. Faragonda lifted Bloom's left wrist, where a small first-degree burn laid. "I can't heal burns, but this was worse when you walked in. After I treated it with water, it seemed to dissolve as if most of it had been nonexistent!"

"I heal quickly," Bloom replied and curled back into the blanket. The warmth seemed inviting now, even if her hair was sticking to her neck from sweat.

"Also, I believe Miss Stella mentioned that she is of the intention to help you with your hair."

Bloom wanted to groan, lie down, and go back to sleep, but her eyes would not stay shut. She had obviously achieved the maximum rest she was going to get, and, she noted sourly, she would probably be unable to sleep until later that night. Bloom mumbled to herself about how she'd have to face the fashion dragon sooner or later and exited the apartment. Even if she wasn't tired like she usually was, the grass pasture still seemed inviting, being clear of all body sacs and the sun shining brightly, making a warm cozy spot to lay down. Bloom let herself fall onto the ground. The puff of air she released upon impact told her that it hadn't been a terrific idea, but she put that out of her mind and stared at the clouds.

She heard footsteps grow near, so Bloom rolled behind the flowers and watched the people who were coming on her stomach.

"It's weird," she heard Timmy say. "They didn't use any of the Dragon Flame! All they had were their own basic witch powers."

Tecna sighed. "And we were still unable to defeat them. This is getting bad. The longer all the other students are away, the less chance of survival they have, especially in an unfamiliar environment! I'm not sure we'll even be able to beat the Trix."

So these people know those girls, Bloom thought. She rolled onto her back and tried not to listen. The longer she did, the more she wanted to giggle about how much it was like a book.

"Bloom!" Stella squealed. "I'm, like, so glad you're awake now! Everyone's been bugging me to tell them about how we met, and—"

"Have you told them yet?" Bloom said suddenly.

"No, why?"

"Don't mention anything about how you thought I had magic."

"But—" protested Stella. "Oh, right, I forgot about that! You could really help us, Bloom!"

"No, I couldn't," Bloom shook her head. "I'm not magic, Stella, just forget about that. Again," she added as an afterthought.

"Okay," Stella said with an exaggerated sigh. "But you have to let me cut your bangs."

Bloom agreed, so the two girls walked to the apartment where the fairies were staying.

**Well, that's the end. I really want to move on to the next chapter. Hopefully I'll get it finished soon.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I now get to have fun with episode order! If I wanted to be smart, I would have shown you all the beginning of this story, where Stella offers to take Bloom with her, but Bloom (obviously) declines, but I opted to go straight into the story. The farther along I became with the plot, the more I realized **_**I**_** had no idea exactly what happened. It's time for all of that to be revealed in the Flashback Episode!**

**It should also be noted that I changed some of the things going on to fit what I want. Nothing major, though.**

"Voila! See, you look gorgeous!" cried Stella, fluffing Bloom's bangs. The other girls rolled their eyes at Stella's antics, but it was obvious that they were used to this. Bloom didn't really care. It was nice to be able to see out from under her bangs.

"Well, I've got chores," said Musa, hopping off of the bed.

Tecna glanced up from her laptop. "Are you actually going to do them?"

"I should go too," Bloom said. "I'm still not feeling too well. I'm going to go lay down."

"Oh. Feel better," said Flora.

Bloom nodded in acknowledgement. She walked back to her bedroom and laid down on the bed. Curling up in the blankets, she remembered when she'd gotten them. It had been a birthday present. Bloom had been begging for years to redo her room and it had been amazing. Then, there was her other present . . . .

* * *

><p><strong>Episode 5<strong>

**What Happened to Bloom**

* * *

><p>"Happy Birthday, Bloom!"<p>

The teenager turned toward her well-intentioned mother. A small, sickeningly frosted cake sat in the middle of the table. Bloom's mother offered the knife. She shook her head and scooted her chair away from the table as she stood up and walked to the door sullenly.

"Bloom, don't you want cake? It's your _sixteenth birthday_!" said her mother.

Bloom looked at the door. "No. I'm just going to walk to the mall—like the fifteen-year-olds do." Her pointed comment fell on deaf ears. She sighed and pulled one of her red curls straight, then let it go, watching as it sprung back up. Her parents were too over-protective. She never got to do anything!

"Actually," her father interjected, "you _won't_ be walking."

Bloom's eyes lit up. "I won't?"

"Nope!" He led the way to the garage with his daughter following excitedly on his tail.

The door opened up to reveal . . . nothing out of the usual, Bloom thought.

"Your new bike!"

Every possible sentence or even _word_ to describe what she was feeling shied away from her mouth. A _bike_? She was sixteen for Pete's sake! What would give them the idea that she'd want a bike now? She didn't even know how to ride it—that was the reason she hadn't had one for all of these years.

What was wrong with them?

* * *

><p>She had eventually learned to ride. It definitely beat walking everywhere, although she really wished she had a car. Bloom grimaced as she remembered the last time she rode that bicycle.<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>Ki <em>-ko!" she cooed to the rabbit in the basket. He sniffed her hand. Bloom ruffled his fur, momentarily letting go of the handle. She swerved to the left. "Woah!"

"Watch where you're going!" Mitzi snapped. Bloom rolled her eyes and continued her ride to the park. The pavement gave way to grass; she hopped off. Kiko rolled around in the basket as Bloom leaned her bike against a tree. She removed an apple from her bag and concentrated on eating. She'd forgotten breakfast.

It wasn't until moments later that Bloom noticed Kiko was gone. She sat up straight, apple forgotten.

She called, "Kiko?"

The basket was empty. She couldn't see him around here.

"Kiko!" Bloom yelled. Where was her rabbit?

At that moment, the furry little ball that was Kiko hopped gravely over to Bloom, hiding between her legs. A look of relief spread over her face. She leaned down to scoop the bunny into her arms. She hugged him until he squeaked and jumped down. Bloom hastily followed, abandoning her sandals.

"Kiko!" she groaned. "Don't run off again!"

Kiko continued to lead her through the trees. Slowly, sounds of pants and hits overtook the pounding of Bloom's feet. Was Kiko taking her to a fight or something? Kiko froze, Bloom skidding to a stop beside him. Kiko nodded his head as if to point between the trees. The redhead warily stuck her head in.

She jerked back, falling to the ground with the force of the movement. "What the heck was that?"

Bloom rose and looked in again. The blonde in weird clothes seemed to be losing, while an ogre (?) took swings at her and ordered little red gremlin things to attack. Bloom bit her lip nervously. She snapped a branch off of a tree and ran forward.

"Hey, ugly thing! Leave her alone!" cried Bloom. The stick nearly fell from her hands in shock. Had she actually said that?

The ogre narrowed his eyes. "Yes, you did."

Bloom tried to back away, but gremlins ran towards her. She crossed her arms to protect herself. After a minute without feeling any blows, she opened her eyes. The gremlins had been thrown on the ground and were dissolving. The blonde slowly rose and smiled approvingly. One flew to the ogre's hand. He growled, squeezing his knuckles together. The gremlin turned into yellow sparkles. He took long steps toward Bloom. Her breath quickened. She didn't know exactly what was going on, but it seemed magical—and not in a good way. The blonde tried to come after him, but a blast of energy shot her back to the ground.

"Well, what do we have here?" asked the ogre. He clasped Bloom's hands together and lifted her off the ground. She kicked and screamed, but it was useless until warmth spread through her body. The ogre dropped her. Her eyes were squeezed shut, but Bloom could see that there was a bright light. By the time she opened them, it had faded. The blonde was approaching her. The ogre glared at the two girls and flashed away.

Bloom heaved a breath. "What the . . . ? I swear I didn't do that."

"_Of course_ you did!" Bloom took a good look at the girl. She had wings. _Wings_. Bloom didn't know if they were real, but _wings_! The fairy smiled. "You're a totally a fairy. Just wait a moment."

A flash of yellow light surrounded her. Clothes that almost looked weirder than the ones she had been wearing took place on her body. The fairy opened her mouth like she was going to speak when she tumbled over.

Bloom reached to her. She was unconscious.

* * *

><p>She had just done what anyone else would have done, but she hadn't thought that this would be what she was getting into.<p>

* * *

><p>Bloom pushed her bike as close as she could to her door and banged on it with one hand. "Mom! Dad! Hurry!"<p>

The door swung open. Mike looked at her worriedly before noticing the unconscious girl. "What happened?"

"I . . . I don't know! But help me get her inside!" she said.

With the help of her parents, Bloom laid the girl on the couch and sat down on the floor beside her, not quite sure what to do. She felt her forehead. It wasn't hot, but maybe putting a washcloth on it would help anyway. She was just about to ask her parents to bring one when she felt the girl move.

"Good morning," murmured the blonde as she closed her eyes again.

"It's evening," said Vanessa, "and you need to get up. You fainted."

"I what?"

She was suddenly aware of everything around her. She said, "Oh. Um, my name is Stella. . . . I mean, I am Princess Stella of Solaria. I demand to see the nearest phone with inter-realm coverage."

Bloom eyed her. "What planet did you come from?"

"Solaria." Stella blinked at her like she was stupid. Then she seemed to remember what had last happened. "Oh, that doesn't matter. You're a fairy. You need to come to Alfea with me."

"I think this girl needs to see the doctor," said Mike. He walked to phone. Stella frowned at him, and with a wave of her finger, the phone turned in a cabbage and a carrot. The three members of the family turned to stare at her in shock. Stella crossed her arms and smirked. Mike and Vanessa took that as a cue to walk away.

"Now, listen to me . . . ah, what's your name?" asked Stella. After receiving the answer, she continued, "Okay, Bloom. You are a fairy. Fairies need to train. Come with me to Alfea."

Bloom said, "Wait a minute. I don't even know what Alfea is, but I can tell you that I am not a fairy."

"Of course you are! Am I going to have to explain everything to you?" cried Stella. "Alfea is the school where fairies train. Now, c'mon! I can't stick around; I really should be there by now. Let's go, Bloom! Get your stuff together!"

"Look, Stella . . . ." Bloom paused and looked at the ground. "I would love to believe you about all of this, but I can't, and I can't just go to a school I know nothing about. I'm in the middle of a school year now!"

Stella looked down. "Oh. Well, okay then. Bye."

She disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

><p>That should've been the end of that. Bloom never would have thought about this magical realm stuff and gone on with her normal life. Of course, that wasn't meant to be.<p>

* * *

><p>Icy heard the sound of a key in its lock. She smirked and turned to watch. The door swung open and a redhead stumbled in, tossing her bag to the side in exhaustion. The dumb little bunny trotted in after her. She called for her parents, but no one answered. Finally, she took a look around and caught sight of the three witches. She glared.<p>

Icy smirked. This was definitely the girl with the Dragon Flame.

"Mom! Dad!" Bloom's glare gained even more viciousness at the sight of her tied up parents. She hardly even noticed when she let out a burst of fire that burnt the ropes. They tried to run over to her.

Stormy shook her head. "Ah, ah, ah! Don't move a muscle."

Darcy made a copy of herself. The copy ran over to the side while the real one sent an attack. Icy tried to trap Bloom in an ice cage. Bloom melted it. Stormy sent a bolt of lightning to her. She jumped away. The copy jumped behind Bloom and grabbed her around the waist. Bloom struggled, but more Darcys just came to hold her in place.

It felt like the warmth was being ripped from her body. It was terrible. It was like she was going to freeze to death. She looked at her parents cowering in the corner. She offered them a weak smile.

"Mom. Dad, go. I can make. I will be fine. Don't worry," she said. They tried to run but were put into body sacs. Bloom watched in horror. She struggled even more and managed to break away.

Icy smirked. "Ah, ah, ah! Cooperate and we won't hurt your little bunny!"

Bloom gasped. "Kiko! Please, leave Kiko alone! Please, I'll do anything!"

She let them take all of the warmth—all of the Flame—from her body until she collapsed on the floor. Her paleness made her look dead. The three witches left as quickly as they came. They had work to do. After all, taking over Magix would take a while.

The next thing Bloom knew, she was all alone.

* * *

><p>Bloom shivered. She did not want to think about that at all.<p>

**This is way late, but I finished! I've been trying hard to get ahead on this, but this is one of my hardest stories to write. I am planning to do the next season too, but any others, I'm not sure of. I'll see you next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, I didn't update for quite a long time. I have good reasons! To start off, my dad broke our computer and refused to have the hard drive taken out so we could get the files off of it even though I told him that I had a half-finished novel in there. (Like a real novel. I was going to publish it.) I lost the next chapter for this and I lost the will to write for a while. Then I could not work up inspiration for this story. Just when I did, I found out my friend was in an abusive relationship and she needed me. So I took a break from the internet life for a while.**

**Now I'm back and ready to jump back in. **

"Argh!"

The ogre stumbled back from his mistresses as they screeched. Lately, he had begun to feel like something was wrong with them. He knew they were wicked before, but it seemed as if every day they became worse. When he tried to sleep at night, he heard screams from the dungeons. He wasn't sure what was in those dungeons as he was never allowed in there, but he had concluded that it was a few fairies and witches that had either not escaped Magix or had been captured from wherever they'd run off to.

"Knut!"

He hurried to one as she called him. He wasn't able to decipher which it had been. He turned the corner and came face-to-face with Icy.

Of course it was Icy. She was the one who gave most of the orders.

Icy's stare was venomous. "What took you so long?" she demanded. Knut stammered an excuse about having to walk but she ignored him. "Oh, shut up! That doesn't even matter. Now, listen: we need you to go back to Earth. Stella is there again. You will find her and bring us her ring. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes, of course!" he cried, hoping for his life.

"Then what are you waiting for? Go!"

* * *

><p><strong>Episode 6<strong>

**The Ring of Solaria**

* * *

><p>Whenever Stella was nervous, her first instinct was to play with her ring. It wasn't a ring that should be toyed with; after all, it was a priceless magical object and if it were to be broken, she would be in trouble with more than just her parents. But Stella couldn't stop and she didn't know why. She wasn't even a fidgety person! It was just that her ring was there and . . . .<p>

"Stella?"

She turned to look at Bloom. The little Earth girl was beginning to worry Stella. She twirled her ring around her finger one more time. She had only met Bloom for a short while before she'd continued on to Alfea, but she did remember that the Bloom she'd met then had been a bit fiery. Still shy and unconfident, sure, but fiery. She didn't know if the biting sarcasm counted as fieriness, but Stella was sure that Bloom hadn't been half as sarcastic back then. Stella had to wonder what had happened. When she'd mentioned magic on her first visit, Bloom had seemed mildly interested. Now, she seemed to fear it.

"Yes?" Stella answered quietly as she pondered and played with her ring. She threw in a smile to reassure Bloom.

Bloom sat on the chair next to Stella and asked, "What's that ring?"

"It's the ring of Solaria," Stella explained. Bloom gave her a look. She sighed and continued, "Solaria. My realm. As I was saying, the ring of Solaria is an object that is given to the heir apparent of Solaria so that the heir will have protection. It can channel magic akin to twelve warlock guards. Other kingdoms have similar objects. Like, if you ask Sky, I'm sure he has one too."

"How many, er, kingdoms are there?" wondered Bloom. What had sparked her sudden interest? Stella tried not to question it. She wanted Bloom to attend Alfea eventually and she would need to know this if she did.

She replied, "I'm not sure. Many. Hundreds, thousands?"

"And they can all be used at the same time?" Stella nodded. "Well, then, why weren't those witches looking for those objects?"

Stella paused. She remembered the multiple attacks on her and other princesses during the school year. "They had," Stella said eventually. "For most of the year. Then, all of sudden, they stopped. And one day, they returned with the Dragon Flame and destroyed everything."

She watched as Bloom nodded and tucked a curl behind her ear. She took all that in and turned back to Stella, asking, "What—?" but Stella continued explaining with no prompting, "The Dragon Flame is kind of the object for the heirs of Domino. There's this big complicated legend that goes along with it, but I don't know much about it to be honest. All I know is that the Dragon Flame is much more powerful than the other objects combined.

"Anyway, Bloom, sweetie, I think it might be best to _not_ concentrate on depressing stuff like that. Let's talk about boys! Do you have a boyfriend? Or maybe you prefer the Specialist type, if you know what I mean. As long as you stay away from Prince Sky, I'll be fine!"

But when Stella looked back to gauge her reaction, Bloom was already racing down the hallway.

* * *

><p>Sky turned the corner and was rammed into by Bloom. As per the law of momentum, he was tossed back slightly while she fell to the floor. "Watch where you're going!" she cried and cradled her head. Sky had to wonder if all of the girls from Earth were as annoying and rude as this. He opened his mouth to snap back at her when suddenly she stood up and faced him. Being below his shoulders, he had to look down quite a bit.<p>

"I'm sorry," said Bloom. "For this, because I was hurt and I took out my anger on you when really I shouldn't have been running through the hallway. And also for this whole time. I've been kind of rude to you."

Sky shrugged. He was probably too nice to forgive her this easily, but when she wasn't being snappy she was kind of funny and maybe if they'd met in different circumstances, Bloom would have been much more pleasant. "It's fine. Just don't start up again, okay?"

She laughed kind of awkwardly and nodded. "Actually, I wanted to speak to you."

"Of course!" he replied and smiled. "But I have to go out and look for others. We can speak if you come along." Bloom nodded and hurried out the back door in front of him. She skipped down the steps happily and onto the grass. Sky followed her. The dew soaked through his shoes. It was a cold morning and it made his feet freeze. Bloom on the other hand was barefoot and wearing short shorts. Granted, she had a jacket over her loose t-shirt, but it still wasn't much. He wondered how she could stay so warm.

"I rarely feel cold. I mostly feel hot," she answered.

Sky asked, "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

She told him to wait. When they had gone far enough from everyone else, Bloom said, "First, what's your real name and please explain the whole name thing." There was the sound of their feet crushing the debris while she waited for her answer. They made their way into an area that looked a bit like a forest, but who knows what it looked like before everything happened.

Sky sighed. "My name is Sky. His is Brandon. Everyone at Red Fountain—the specialist school," he added to remind her, "knows that. Everyone else in Magix thinks my name is Brandon and his is Sky. Brandon is my squire. My parents wanted to protect me so he would pose as me. But I slipped up and told you my real name."

Bloom nodded. She kept her gaze on the ground at the clover patches. She hoped to find a four-leaf. She could use some good luck as of right now. "Okay. Got it. Next, Stella was telling me that the royalty of . . . realms have objects that are meant to protect them."

Sky found it kind of intriguing that she very rarely asked him direct questions. He couldn't help but smile again. "Yes. I'm not allowed to tell you about mine though.

"Is Stella not supposed to tell me about hers?" she asked in a guilty tone, looking back up at him. He tried not to laugh. The face she made was so innocent and unlike the other expressions she'd given him.

"I'm not sure," he answered honestly. "That rule was given to me by my parents."

"Are you parents strict?"

Sky paused, a bit of a frown on his face. ". . . Yeah."

Bloom smiled. "Mine too. Oh, and the last thing is, Stella started telling me about the Dragon Flame and it being an object but she said there was a legend and she didn't know it. Do you?"

"Of course. And Stella should too. It's an important part of history. But I'm not really supposed to tell you," he said.

Bloom said, "Please? I won't tell anyone that you did, I promise. What's it going to hurt if some Earth girl knows?"

Sky took a deep breath and relented. He didn't even know why he was doing this, but he couldn't refuse her. "You can't mention it to anyone, ever. Understand? It's something that's been kept hidden from the general public."

He stopped and leaned against a tree. Bloom sat down in the clover, using her hands now to search. "The Dragon Flame is the object of the heir apparents of Domino. Now, there's a whole lot to this story and I'm going to have to chop it up into pieces because it's so complicated. I'll start with how the Dragon Flame was created. The legend is that there was this giant dragon that created the universe. He settled down on Domino. When he died, the last breath he made was pure fire. There was something about him promising the young princess that he'd always protect her"—he smiled apologetically—"I'm sorry. I always thought this story was kind of boring. I didn't pay as much attention as I should have.

"As I was saying, because of his promise, that breath infused itself inside of the princess and she was able to use the Dragon Flame to protect herself. See, the Dragon Flame is kind of like special fairy powers and it made the princess very strong. But unlike other objects, it always stayed with the fairy that had it until death and it could only be given to women. Then it would move to the heir apparent. So if there was a woman who had it but she wasn't queen anymore and her daughter was and if her daughter had a daughter, the princess would receive it and not the queen. Understand?"

Bloom shook her head, twirling a clover between her fingers. "Not really, but continue."

"Before the Dragon Flame, people from Domino generally had little to no magic. With it, everyone's magical abilities were increased and it ended up that they became a bit conceited. They thought they were better than everyone else." Sky looked particularly irritated by that, but shrugged. "It doesn't matter now. Domino's gone."

He began to move away.

"Wait!" Bloom called. "What happened to Domino?"

He sat down in the grass next to her. "No one knows for sure. One day, some dignitary went to visit and the planet—which used to be really hot and green all the time—was frozen."

"What happened to the Dragon Flame? We know that the witches have it now, but between now and then?"

"Don't know that either. Let's go back now." Sky stood up and held out his hand, raising Bloom to her feet. His stomach fluttered as their fingers touched.

"Race you!" she cried as she tumbled down the path. Sky waited a moment.

Shoot. He wasn't supposed to like her.

* * *

><p>Bloom raced to a stop as she realized the somber atmosphere that was around. One of the boys turned to her. It was the one with glasses—Timmy, she thought.<p>

"Stella's ring was stolen," he said.

"By who?" she asked.

Timmy shrugged. "I'm not sure. But it just seems like it keeps getting worse."

She nodded even though it didn't feel like it to her. Bloom had been reassured that whatever it was those witches wanted from her, it wasn't all that important. It probably wasn't even magic.

**I'm sorry it's sucky. I'm out of practice. Sorry again.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, I'm back and lot quicker than I normally am! I finally have the rest of this season planned out. I like where it's going, I'm excited to post it, and I'm going to do my best to keep pumping these chapters out!**

Musa stumbled in. It had been her turn to go on a search and those were so exhausting. She sighed and rubbed her forehead. She was so tired that she could just about fall asleep on the floor. But, because she had access to a much more comfortable bed, she forced herself to trudge through the kitchen and past the living room to the bathroom to change into some comfortable pajamas before flopping down and sleeping for the next year.

Musa smiled. It seemed like such a nice plan. She pulled her hair down from the pigtails and closed her eyes from the relief it gave her head. Sometimes she forgot how much that hairstyle pulled on her scalp. But it was all over now. She could plop down on the mattress and let this whole day fade from her mind.

"_Ech— Ech, ka— Ka reponne werr fe. Ja reponnes kan. Ku ponne rall!_"

She turned to the couch, startled to see Bloom laying on the couch and struggling as if in a nightmare. She had a grimace on her face and shook her head roughly. Musa hesitated—she'd heard it was bad to wake someone in a nightmare—or was that a sleepwalker?— but then reached out to see if she was alright.

"_Ka reponne da errinn ul Domino!_"

* * *

><p><strong>Episode 7<strong>

**The Pumpkin Witch**

* * *

><p>"What were you dreaming last night, Bloom?" Musa asked at breakfast. It had been difficult to fall asleep after seeing her. She'd stayed up for about an hour pondering it before exhaustion truly drove her to pass out. She yawned and rubbed her tired eyes. Then Musa looked over at Riven to see if he'd noticed. He was ignoring her like always. She sighed.<p>

Bloom glanced up. She stayed silent for a moment as she processed the question. Forks clicked against plates and there were a few murmurs of how they liked this strange Earth breakfast cake. Bloom finally answered with, "Um . . . . As far as I know, I didn't really have any dreams last night. Not that I remember anyway."

"Well," Musa said as she removed her fork from her mouth, "I walked by you and it looked like you were having a nightmare."

Bloom shrugged. "Well, I don't remember anything."

Everyone (which wasn't quite everyone, as Stella was still recovering from the attack) glanced at her curiously for a second before turning back to breakfast. To change the subject, Flora asked, "Where's Riven?"

"He had a search," replied Timmy. The conversation died down for a moment, but picked up back to the same point it always did: what would happen next.

Tecna said, "The Trix took Stella's ring again." She exchanged a look around the table that clearly meant something to everyone but Bloom. The redhead leaned over to Flora and whispered her confusion.

"Stella and S—Brandon told me a little about objects that heirs of planets have to protect them. Um, are the Trix trying to collect them all?"

Flora smiled sympathetically. "It's all we can assume." She raised her voice to speak to the whole table. "Sky, I would advise you to be careful. They might come after you soon. Brandon, sweetie, maybe you should stay with him at all times? I just think it would be best at this point." Everyyone seemed to agree.

"I—"

The door slammed open. Riven dragged in a pale girl that could only be assumed to be a witch from her attire. They stood from the table and hurried over to see.

"She's unconscious," snapped Riven.

Musa rolled her eyes. "Don't you think we know that? But this is the first person other than us we've found and—"

"Don't you think we know that?" Riven quipped sarcastically. He started to lay the witch on the couch, but Flora stopped him.

"Put her in my room. I know a few spells that might wake her up. Bloom, come with me. I could use your help."

The four hurried down the hallway to the room that had been taken over by plants. Riven shifted the girl in his arms so she was easier to carry while Flora chattered off about what she'd need to do. Bloom trailed quietly behind, still feeling a bit awkward and unsure of what was going on. She pushed the sleeves of her hoodie up her arms as she passed through the doorframe and stood by the wall, out the way.

"I need to tell the teachers," Riven said. Flora nodded. She grasped the girl's arm and muttered something. When it didn't work, she called for Bloom to bring her a book that was sitting by the bed, half tucked under the curtains.

As Bloom handed it to her, she said, "Um, maybe she's not having problems that can be solved with magic. Like maybe she's dehydrated or . . . ."

Flora smiled in the same polite way she always did. She turned to one of the nearby plants that was snapping at her fingers and tried to soothe it. "Yes, it is very likely that she was dehydrated. What I did was a little charm that would replenish her water supply and another that would fill her stomach. At this point, her body will be adjusting to being healthy again and she should wake in a few hours as far as I know."

Bloom said, "Oh."

Flora still had the smile on her face. "Don't sound like that, honey. I know you don't understand magic that well. Would you like to come with me to visit Stella?"

Bloom shook her head. "Um, no. I think I'll just stay here. In case she wakes up and wonders where she is."

That same stupid smile! "Alright. Bye!"

She turned and walked out the door. Bloom sat on the ground, pulled up her hood, and buried her burning face in the fabric.

* * *

><p>Timmy leaned over Tecna's shoulder to get a better look at the screen. "Are you sure that music fairies emit waves with that high of a frequency?"<p>

Tecna nodded surely. "Yes. I tested Musa and gave a pretty large margin of error for the computer. That's the range they should be coming in."

"But it looks so high compared to the rest of them."

"Well, it's not like they all have to be in the same area!"

"Of course not, but I'm saying it's strange that most would be and a single one wouldn't."

Brandon/Sky looked over at the two. "What are you doing?"

Tecna turned to him with a huff. She fixed her purple hair and said, "We're making a machine that pick up the transmission that magic sends off. As long as the witches or fairies are using their powers frequently, this machine will help us pick up a trail to follow. And I took measurements of what the girls and I gave off, but Timmy doesn't believe that my tests are accurate, despite the many, _many_ trials I made." With a casual flick of her head, Tecna waited for him to contradict her. Timmy rolled his eyes, not even bothering with her at this point.

Brandon/Sky smiled. "Oh, that's cool. Uh, hey, Timmy? Don't you think that maybe you should listen to your girlfriend?"

"She's not—" Timmy cried immediately. Tecna turned her green gaze up to him. He paused and looked back down at her. What was she thinking? That he'd told his friends that? That he shouldn't be denying it because it was true? That she couldn't believe that anyone would think she'd ever consider dating him? He could never tell. Her gaze was just like program. You could see what it made, but not the programming behind it. Timmy sighed and began to work again.

* * *

><p>The girl sat up in bed, gasping and grasping for something around. She looked around and came face-to-face with Bloom. They stared for a minute before the girl opened her mouth. "Where's Lucy?" she asked quietly.<p>

"Um . . . ," Bloom said, "who? Um, we—well, er, it was Riven, really—found you in the forest and brought you back here. All of the headmasters are here and we're looking for other witches, fairies, and specialists. Um, actually, I'm none of those; I'm from Earth, but I survived the attack from the Trix. My name is Bloom."

The girl blinked warily and replied, "Not sure I followed that, but my name's Mirta. Lucy is my friend. The Trix were trying to take us back to Cloud Tower and—"

"What?" Bloom asked.

Mirta stared. "You know. The Trix found us and were trying to take us back to Cloud Tower with everyone else, but Lucy made them let me go and they tried to just take her so I tried to cast a spell, but I guess I was too weak to and—"

"She's awake?" Bloom and Mirta glanced up to see Sky. Bloom nodded. He sighed. "Why didn't you come get someone?"

"Well, she was telling me—"

Sky dragged Mirta out of the room. Bloom sat down on the bed and sighed.

* * *

><p>On Earth, Bloom was normal. She fit in; she had her place, whatever you preferred to say. Sure, she wasn't super popular and she maybe made better grades than the average student, but over all she didn't stick out. Bloom was fairly well-liked. She had plenty of friends and as far as she could tell no one hated her. Well, there was Mitzi, but Mitzi was rude to everyone so she didn't really count. The point was, Bloom tried to get herself back on task, that Bloom was a normal girl that had her place in the world. She wasn't an outcast.<p>

Now she was.

And it wasn't even like they were trying to make her feel like an outsider. Everyone was ridiculously pleasant and understanding. They did their best to make Bloom feel like she fit in. It still didn't help.

She looked around. It was even apparent now. Everyone had their own tasks to be doing. Timmy and Tecna were still working on that machine, Riven, Sky, and Brandon were trying to fix one of the ships, Flora was inside with Stella, and Musa was listening to an mp3 player she'd found. They had tasks that they could do that were suited to their abilities. All Bloom could do was laundry and cooking and cleaning random things. And she was finished with everything she could do so now she just stood around uselessly!

"Hi."

Bloom turned her head to the door. Mirta stood awkwardly. She'd changed into an old gray sweatshirt that washed her skin out a bit.

"Um," she continued, "you're Bloom, right?"

Bloom nodded. "Yeah."

"I'm Mirta. I think I told you that already, but, um, I just wanted to make sure." Mirta blushed under her freckles.

"Nice to meet you," replied Bloom. They both stood quietly before Bloom attempted to speak again. "Um, you're a witch?"

Mirta smiled. "Yes. Not a very good one though."

"What do you mean?"

"Well . . . I, um . . . I don't like doing the things that most witches do," Mirta said, shrugging. "Witches are supposed to hex people and stuff like that. I prefer helping, but there's not many things I can do to help."

Bloom nodded to show that she was listening and smiled. She felt a certain affinity with this girl.

* * *

><p>"I hope you have good reason for calling a meeting, Miss Faragonda," Miss Griffin said. She cast a look at the students gathered around the table and lowered her voice. "Especially because they're here." She did make sure to smile at Mirta very briefly. Miss Griffin was pleased to know that at least one of her students was safe.<p>

"I have very good reason," Faragonda replied. She sat down at the table and called everyone to attention. "I'm sure that by this point you all know what has happened to at least some of the other students. Since we know that they've been taken back to Magix, I feel that we could stage a rescue mission."

The whole group stared at her as if she was insane. She continued anyway.

"Now, obviously we can't rescue many, but if we can at least take a few . . . . The plan for this would be this: We will send the fairies. None of you have the abilities to teleport yourselves that far away—and, yes, Stella, I know that you could with your ring, but that isn't here, is it?—so Saladin, Griffin, and I will teleport you there. However, because of the amount of you, we will not be able to do that more than once. The trip to Earth is an hour by ship. After rescuing some, or if the mission fails, find a place you can hide for an hour, contact the boys, send them your coordinates, and wait there. Mirta, you will stay behind because you are still recovering." Miss Faragonda looked around and saw Bloom. "Oh, and you I will send with the fairies."

"What?" Bloom asked weakly. Sky/Brandon, sitting next to her, reached out and patted her arm comfortingly. Tecna's eyebrows shot up. Flora looked concerned. Everyone looked skeptical.

Riven asked, "Is that a good idea? She can't protect herself."

Miss Faragonda shook her head. "On the contrary, I think Bloom can protect herself very well. Also, she is good at hiding. I believe she will be vital to this. But if you're so worried . . . Brandon, why don't you train Bloom on how to use a sword for the next few days? The rest of us can use that as time to prepare other things for this mission. Meeting dismissed."

They didn't rise quietly, chairs squeaking, loud stretching, but no one spoke. Bloom hustled to Stella's side and whispered, "No one is going to go against her?"

"You don't say no to Faragonda," Stella said. It seemed that she didn't care. "Oh, and, Bloom, I think I may need to trim your bangs again? They're hanging on your eyes again. Does your hair grow quickly or what?"

**Okay, if you want to know what Bloom said, you can check the bottom. It's not really spoilers, but it's an option to not know. Anyway, that whole thing will come into play more later.**

**I know it's still not quite up to par, but I'm trying to get back in the swing of writing for Winx Club.**

**As you can tell, I've toned down the relationship between Mitzi and Bloom. I'm sorry, but I always hated that. Sure, there could be a mean girl, but I thought it was kind of ridiculous to have her pick Bloom out singularly. It makes much more sense to me the way that I wrote it. In any case, she won't be mentioned much so it's okay.**

**"****_Ech— ech, ka— Ka reponne werr fe. Fe reponnes kan. Ku ponne rall!_****"—"But— but, I— I'm not like that. That's not me. You're wrong!"**

**"****_Ka reponne da errinn ul Domino!_****"—"I am not the princess of Domino!"**


End file.
